T. B. & R. Jordan John William Howey 1873

Staithes Group Art :English Landscape Paintings of the 20th Century:John William Howey 1873 - 1938


	Landscape with Farm Oil painting on canvas 15"x17½", signed. Provenance with the Howey family. This beautiful picture of sunlight and shadow is painted in thick impasto with a broad brush to give it a real sense of immediacy. View larger image Price: £4,250.00


A Country Church Oils on panal by John William Howey, 9¼"x11½". Authenticated by the artist's grandson. View larger image Price: £1,950.00


	A Country Lane Oils on panel, 18"x15". Provenance with the Howey family. View larger image Price: £4,250.00


Turnbull Hall Farm Oils on panel by John William Howey, 10"x12", signed, inscribed and dated March 1937 verso. View larger image Price: £2,650.00


	Dobson's Farm near Elwick Oils on panel, 10"x12", signed and dated Feb 12th 1938 by John William Howey. Provenance with the Howey family. View larger image Price: £2,650.00


Stanhope Oilpainting on panel, 11"x13½", inscribed and signed verso: Stanhope 1937. Provenance with the Howey family. A vigorous painting of early Spring painted plein air. View larger image Price: £2,650.00


	Castle Eden 2 Oils on panel, , 9¾"x11", inscribed and signed verso: Castle Eden J.W. Howey. Provenance with the Howey family. Sunlight and shadow made up of unusual colours which work extremely well. It is reminiscent of Monet's analysis of colours to be found in shadows. View larger image Price: £3,250.00


John Howey Howey was born in West Hartlepool in 1873 and, like so many of the Staithes artists, began painting at an early age. He was largely self taught, but received a very good grounding in drawing at the West Hartlepool School of Art where he was taught by the Headmaster, landscape artist Edwin Ely Denyer. Howey began working in oils and watercolours in his late teens. He did not have the confidence to make painting a full time career and became a collector for the West Hartlepool Gas and Water Company, rising to become the head of their collection service. Although he painted in both oils and watercolours Howey’s best work is, generally speaking, in oils. When a good watercolour does appear, it is certainly worth buying. Unusually for a member of the Staithes Group, he frequently applied oil paint with a palette knife or with a thick brush. His impasto is readily recognisable. The Director of the Gray Art Gallery and Museum in Hartlepool, Major J. A. Louis Downey described his work in a 1925 catalogue of an exhibition of his pictures as follows: ‘He paints in a virile and forceful manner, making a special study of sunlight effects, and has developed his individual art by his own close observation of nature….. ‘He is equally successful in landscape work or portraiture. In his landscapes he shows us just those qualities of the English countryside which we love and appreciate. In his portraiture he introduces character and the vital spark as well as likeness.’ Howey has works in the collections of public galleries in Hartlepool and Whitby. He exhibited many pictures at the Gray Art Gallery, Hartlepool and a total of seventy oil paintings and eight watercolours in exhibitions of the Artists of the Northern Counties at the Laing Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne between 1909 and 1939 (including two exhibited posthumously). He also exhibited at Sunderland Public Art Gallery and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Bibliography: Staithes Group Centenary Exhibition, Rosamund Jordan 2003 The Art of J.W. Howey of West Hartlepool, Spring Exhibition 1925, The Gray Art Gallery, Hartlepool. The Artists of Northumbria, Marshall Hall, 2nd Edition, Titus Wilson & son Ltd., Kendal, 1982. The Staithes Group, Peter Phillips, Phillips and Sons, Marlow 1993. The Dictionary of British Artists 1880 - 1940, J. Johnson & A. Greutzner, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge 1976 Thanks to Mr. David Howey for further information. © Rosamund Jordan 2005

Staithes Group Art :English Landscape Paintings of the 20th Century:John William Howey 1873 - 1938